Building up speed with a metronome

Today I am just going to give you a quick explanation on how to build up speed on guitar using a metronome.


This is advice that is given to a lot of players and some thing I will refer to a lot in my posts.


So how does this work?


One thing you need to remember is that you will never be able to play some thing fast if you cannot play it slowly, and if you want to play it fast you have to be able to play it perfectly clean and perfectly relaxed at a slow pace.


Basically any fast guitar technique can be sped up using a metronome, whether its down picking like in my previous post, alternate picking, tapping, sweep picking or any thing else you can think of.


So take what ever technique you want to speed up, set your metronome to 60bpm. Practice the technique over and over, making sure you keep in time, and that your not tensing any muscles, and when your finally completely comfortable and playing it nice and clean, increase the speed slightly (about 5bpm) and do it all again, and then keep doing this every day (increasing the speed you start and finish at slightly each day) until you have achieved your goal.


A word of warning though. Do not attempt to increase the speed to much in one day, or stick to one technique for hours and hours or it will not stick in the muscle memory .I suggest dedicating 20-40 minutes for each technique/ exercise and going up no more than a total of 20bpm in one go.


This is not an over night fix, it takes time, lots of practice and patience. But every top shredder has done it. It is a system that has been successfully tried and tested by millions.


Just be patient, practice and stay positive, this method will work.